


the things jisoo did, and the things he didn't

by coffeechoi



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Diners, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Comparing Jeonghan to Birds, Confident Jeonghan, Fluff, Happy Ending, Idiots in Love, Jeonghan is in LOVE, JiHan, Jisoo also thinks too much, Jisoo and Jeonghan have dumb friends, Jisoo is a coward, M/M, Mentions of drugs, Shy Jisoo, Worker Jisoo, how do u tag, jisoo is oblivious, sounds worse than it is, verkwan if u squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 16:20:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18641689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeechoi/pseuds/coffeechoi
Summary: Hong Jisoo is desperately in love with his childhood friend yet can't admit it to anyone or himself. Yoon Jeonghan and his friends come to Jisoo's place of work every Friday night and the occasional weekend morning. Jisoo falls desperately for Jeonghan every time he sees him. Jeonghan's idiot friends manage to let Jisoo find out some very important information...orthe teenager & diner jihan fic





	the things jisoo did, and the things he didn't

**Author's Note:**

  * For [authormin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/authormin/gifts).



> Hey guys!! I haven't posted on this account in FOREVER. My writing has hopefully approved idk my last fic is something else...
> 
> This one-shot is inspired by my favourite ao3 writer and the best Jihan writer ever! I have never written Jihan until this point and before reading their fics I probably would have never (I was and still am a rare pair hoe,,,), but reading their fics made me want to have a bit of Jihan fluff for myself! So thanks so much anythingkorean ilysm <333 I hope I don't let you down <333 And thank you for allowing my rare pair heart to willingly accept a popular pairing because I am now in love with their dynamic,,,,
> 
> Anyways!! This fic was almost completely written during a sleep deprived and manic driven night,,, my emotions and shit in general have kept me from editing it properly SO it remains unedited (there were slight edits, but essentially none). But through that mess of a night I wrote so much and this one-shot is now my baby,, <33
> 
> So here is an unedited teenage Jihan fic!! Please enjoy, comment your opinions and kudos <333

Jisoo doesn’t hate his job.

 

Working at a diner 3 days a week and getting paid minimum wage doesn’t leave much to complain about. Jisoo doesn’t mind his coworkers, he actually kind of likes some of them, and his boss is actually rather nice to him. But then again he’s probably only nice because he’s the only one who does his work _properly_ \- but Jisoo doesn’t care as long as he’s liked.

 

Though the main thing Jisoo dislikes about his job is the amount of _loud as fuck_ teenagers who come in every friday as some sort of tradition. Every friday night they come in, order an insane amount of food and essentially just scream and eat all night. And because Jisoo is the good worker he is, all he does is smile and not complain. That certainly doesn’t mean he doesn’t roll his eyes when no one is looking.

 

Jisoo only appreciates one thing about Friday nights. The one thing happens to be a boy, and this boy happens to be _really fucking beautiful_. His name is Yoon Jeonghan. Yoon Jeonghan is sort of known for being very attractive, he knows it and so does everyone else. Everyone in all of his classes stare at him in awe, even including the teachers, it’s just what everyone did.

 

Here’s this: Jisoo really shouldn’t be falling for the hottest boy in school, it’s really just a call for disaster. But here’s _this_ : Jisoo can’t help it! It’s not his fault him and everyone else with eyes thinks Jeonghan is attractive, you’d be dumb or even blind to think otherwise. It’s quite possibly very bad to fall for an insanely stunning boy, yet some may say that it’s considerably worse falling for an insanely stunning boy who you happen to be friends with.

 

Yes, Jeonghan is friends with Jisoo. They’ve known each other for some time now, Jeonghan moved to Jisoo’s elementary school in the seventh grade. The pair were great friends up until high school and they drifted apart, not completely but they got their own group of friends and that was that.

 

Jisoo occasionally reaches out with a friendly text message. Jeonghan would always respond immediately, but eventually conversation would die and they would go days or even weeks without talking again. This only bothered Jisoo _slightly_. Yet instead of being bothered, he always figured it was for the best considering he should probably distance himself before talking too much and accidentally professing his love to Jeonghan.

 

So rather than wallowing in self-pity, Jisoo stares at Jeonghan from across the counter while at work. Which very well could also be considering wallowing in self-pity, but it doesn’t matter because _Jisoo_ thinks that it doesn’t and that’s the only important thing.

 

“Jisoo!” His boss calls out.

 

“Yes?” He questions as he’s broken out of his trance.

 

“Get to work!”

 

“Sir, yes, sir!”

 

\--

 

The next time Jisoo has to work it’s another Friday night, and the sight to welcome him was Chwe Hansol-- one of Jisoo’s closest friend’s-- sitting at the table closest to the register. Hansol had been friends with Jisoo for quite some time, not as long as him and Jeonghan but a good amount of time. The boy was younger than Jisoo but that gave Jisoo more of a reason to like him, it allowed Jisoo to mentor the boy despite the small one year difference.

 

“Jisoo, hyung!” Hansol calls out once he sees his friend, catching his attention from where Jisoo was standing by the front door.

 

“Hansol, I have to get to work you know.” Jisoo laughs softly, not really wanting to push his friend away.

 

Hansol gives Jisoo his regular nonchalant shrug of his shoulders and motions for Jisoo to sit down in front of him. “You have a good 10 minutes to spare. Talk to me.”

 

“It’s really 6 minutes, I have to change-” Jisoo was going to continue until he notices Hansol showing him his special little grin and suddenly Jisoo relaxed in his seat. The way Hansol knows exactly how to get Jisoo to give in should probably frighten the older a bit, yet instead he chose to think about that another time.

 

“I have good news, hyung! I’m actually passing math, dud- hyung! I’m at a 62!” Hansol’s grin grew into a full on toothy smile as he looks up at Jisoo. Before Jisoo could congratulate the boy Hansol continued speaking, or rambling rather. “Mrs. Montez can suck my dick, bro! She keeps saying I’m going to fail but your boy is _passing_! God, I’ve never been so happy. Okay- that’s not true, I was really happy that one time Daniel- the dealer- dropped half an ounce of weed on the ground- but whatever you get the point-” Hansol continues on speaking at the speed of light and as he did Jisoo’s mind went completely elsewhere.

 

Right over Hansol’s shoulder was Jeonghan’s usual table. Sitting there was Jeonghan’s three friends that Jisoo could now name: Seungcheol, Seokmin, and Seungkwan. Jisoo couldn’t help but notice that there was an empty seat at the table, the spot that Jeonghan usually sat at. Not that Jisoo knew exactly where Jeonghan sat! That would be obsessive and weird, right? So _obviously_ Jisoo just assumed that Jeonghan sat there!

 

“Jisoo, hyung! Are you even listening?” Hansol whines at the older while aggressively waving his hand in front of Jisoo’s eyes.

 

“Hansol, I’m _always_ listening! I’m the greatest friend, dude.” Jisoo responded easily, putting the right emphasis on words to ensure that Hansol was listening all while raising his eyebrows at the other, to which the younger then responded with an eye roll and a pout.

 

“Yeah yeah whatever. Go and get to work, I’m gonna focus on my _math homework_ so I can continue passing this class while you pretend to work…” Hansol’s voice trailed off as he spoke, eyes following Jisoo’s movements as he got up from the table.

 

“Pretend?” He scoffs between words, “I’m intuitive! I have nothing to pretend about! I love my job!”

 

Hansol raises both of his eyebrows at Jisoo in response and watches as Jisoo turns his back to him before mumbling: “Pretend about your non-existing relationship between you and Jeonghan hyung.”

 

Jisoo pauses momentarily while walking, having heard what Hansol mumbled, but quickly snapped into reality and kept walking. He was absolutely not going to dwell on what Hansol said, because that would be dramatic. Jisoo is gonna be the big person in the situation and act like he heard nothing and put all of his attention into his work today, because Jisoo is _intuitive_ as he stated, and Jisoo doesn’t lie!

 

\--

 

Jisoo does lie.

 

Jisoo was serving today rather than working cash, meaning he would be taking orders and giving out orders to customers. He kept his smile plastered on his face every time he made eye contact with a customer and made sure to get every order correct.

 

If Jisoo did all of that, then how could he possibly lie? What could Jisoo have done between his conversation with Hansol before his shift and now, the middle of his shift.

 

Jisoo was fucking distracted.

 

Jeonghan wasn’t at his usual table and Jisoo could not stop thinking about it while going from table to table. Jisoo is used to routine and part of his Friday routine is serving or cashing out Jeonghan’s 4 person friend group, and it shouldn’t be much different as it’s only a 3 person friend group, but _still_. Jisoo has now become accustomed to seeing Jeonghan at his work every Friday and admiring him from afar, that’s how it’s been for weeks on end but for one reason or another, Jeonghan wasn’t around for Jisoo to admire.

 

And okay, Jisoo didn’t only admire Jeonghan… That would be weird! Jisoo would make conversation… About the food… And with everyone else… In Jisoo’s defense, it’s still considered conversation! It was weird for him to talk to the other 3 and not Jeonghan.

It did seem as though the rest of the group had no issues with Jeonghan not being around. The 3 all continued to be just as loud and rowdy as usual and order close to the same amount of food as per usual, they didn’t seem to change without one member. Another thing Jisoo noticed was that their gaze would all flicker to Jisoo every once and awhile- always when Jisoo was across the floor. But Jisoo brushed it off, he was trying not to over think and was trying to genuinely focus on his job, which realistically should’ve been easier _without_ Jeonghan there.

 

Jisoo is serving the table beside Jeonghan’s group when he hears something that catches his attention.

 

“Jisoo is kind of pretty, I guess.” One of the three muttered, clearly trying to be slick about the topic conversation.

 

Another friend spoke: “You see what Jeonghan sees in him then, huh?” To which the one who hadn’t spoken yet laughs loudly to.

 

“God, _no_. Jeonghan sees Jisoo on a completely different level! Jisoo is some sort of fucking angel in his eyes, I just think he’s pretty! Jeonghan doesn’t just say something that simple, every god damn Friday he mutters about how drop dead gorgeous Jisoo is and how he wishes Jisoo would just ask him out already! Do none of you hear this?” One of them rambled.

 

“Sorry, dude. Most of the time I’m looking at Hansol. He’s high a lot of the time- but otherwise he’s super cute.” The one who hasn’t spoken confessed, Jisoo recognised his voice as Seungkwan.

 

The customers Jisoo is supposed to be serving cough awkwardly at Jisoo’s long pause and he apologises profusely. “I’m so sorry! Just drifted off!” He laughs awkwardly and goes to pour the orange juice that the customer had asked for. Before the juice could reach the glass it misses and splashes onto the table and soon onto the customer’s lap. The customer stands up quickly, not before gasping loudly.

 

“Oh, god! I’m so, so sorry sir!” Jisoo exclaims while scrambling to pick up the pitcher of juice and his cloth all at the same time.

 

Angrily, the customer shakes his head and storms off to the bathroom. The other customer, gives Jisoo an awkward smile and starts cleaning off the table with napkins. While this goes down the rest of the restaurant watch in shock, especially Jeonghan’s friends.

 

Eventually attention goes back to where it should be, with food or friends and Jisoo gives a free meal coupon to the male customer and truly decides to focus on paying attention to his movement and his work.

Yet just like every time Jisoo says he’ll do something he immediately does the opposite, he doesn’t pay attention to his work and instead his head is stuck on a Jeonghan’s friend’s words: “How he wishes Jisoo would just ask him out already.”

 

After years of Jisoo crushing on Jeonghan he finds out through his _friends_ that Jeonghan likes him? The thought confuses him and leaves him more distracted than usual on a Friday night.

 

‘Maybe they knew I was listening and was playing a joke on me…’ Jisoo tried rationalising with himself. ‘But then Seungkwan wouldn’t have confessed his own crush on Hansol…’

 

To try and calm himself down Jisoo took more orders and avoided Jeonghan’s table as much as possible without it being painfully obvious.

 

\--

 

Throughout the night Jisoo makes a total of 4 more mistakes, which is about 4 more than usual and is eventually sent home early as his boss couldn’t take any more messes on such a busy night.

 

Rather than going home right away Jisoo slumps himself into the booth across from Hansol, who had been sitting there definitely not doing his math homework like stated hours previously.

 

“You’re a fucking mess, hyung.” Hansol states, deadpan.

 

“Just because you say hyung after doesn’t mean you can swear at me, Hansol-ah.” Jisoo says, eyes closed and head leaning against the backrest.

 

Hansol sits up straight and pulls his elbows up onto the table and he stares at Jisoo. “Sorry, hyung. It’s kind of true. What’s up with you tonight? You’re literally the best worker here yet you’ve made a total of 5 mistakes! Something is up with you.”

 

“Maybe it’s just not my day today, Hansol. Why does something have to be wrong?” Jisoo’s eyes are still closed.

 

“I’ve known you for _years_ Jisoo hyung. You don’t just have off-days.”

 

Jisoo’s eyes open at that statement. Hansol is right, and Jisoo can’t really lie too well, it doesn’t end up well.

 

“Jeonghan isn’t here tonight.” Jisoo starts, testing Hansol’s water before continuing.

 

“It’s really about Jeonghan?” Hansol goes to laugh before getting cut off by Jisoo’s death stare. “O-Okay yeah, continue, hyung.”

 

“And so I was listening on his friend’s conversation to see if they maybe mentioned why he wasn’t here, y’know? Well I heard something that I feel like I wasn’t meant to hear…” He trailed off.

 

“That was?” Hansol encouraged Jisoo to continue.

 

“Jeonghan is apparently in love with me.” Jisoo mumbles the words and shuts his eyes once again, not wanting to face Hansol.

 

“Okay first of all, hyung: in love? That’s a strong statement. Second of all: isn’t that a good thing? You’re also basically in love with him.”

 

Jisoo lets out a cry of despair and drops his head onto the table and doesn’t respond to Hansol for a few moments. “It’s not a good thing! I don’t know how I’m supposed to approach the situation! I won’t even be able to look him in the eyes the next time he’s here and _then_ he’s gonna notice that something is wrong and that involves talking and we can both tell that I cannot handle that!” Jisoo is now the one rambling to Hansol, that’s new.

 

Hansol gives him a confused look and gives the older a suggestion. “Why don’t you just text him?”

 

“You really think it’s that simple, Hansol?”

 

“Hyung! All you have to do is say something smooth! Something along the lines of: ‘Hey, Jeonghan. I like you too.’” He shrugs at Jisoo.

 

“In what way is that smooth, Hansol-ah?”

 

Hansol throws his hands up in the air and lets out a huff. “Just message him, hyung! That way you can reconcile things without _actually_ having to see his face!”

 

“I guess I can try.” Jisoo decides.

 

\--

 

Jisoo lays in bed at 1:04 AM exactly and the only thing on his mind is the idea of texting Jeonghan. It should be simple, text him and ask what the hell his friends were going on about. Simple, aside from making sure he doesn’t sound too hopeful incase he doesn’t like him or making sure that he doesn’t make it seem like he assumes it’s a joke incase Jeonghan does like him.

 

It’s simple really.

 

It’s not like there are quite possibly a million different scenarios that could play out or anything. Only a few, some of those being: Jeonghan not believing his friend’s would say that and thinking it’s a joke, or Jeonghan telling him straight that he doesn’t like him and what Jisoo and Jeonghan have is strictly platonic, or Jeonghan leaving him on _read_.

 

Fear overrides Jisoo and he decides not to text Jeonghan that night.

 

\--

 

Jisoo doesn’t work the next morning, which leads him to open his eyes at around 10:30 AM. He reaches over to the bedside table and grabs his phone. Upon opening his eyes he is greeted with a number of text messages from Hansol, most reading along the lines of: ‘Dude’ ‘Did you text Jeonghan hyung yet?’ ‘Wake up’ ‘Dude’. And then repeated due to Hansol’s love of spamming.

 

Rolling his eyes, Jisoo texts back ‘Lol yeah,,, of course I did’. He receives a response immediately, writing: ‘JISOO!! WHY ARE YOU AWAKE SO LATE YOU’RE ALWAYS AWAKE SO EARLY WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU!! DOES THIS HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH JEONGHAN???’ and then ‘Wait why are you typing like that? You didn’t message him did you?’

 

Jisoo groans aloud and drops his phone before flailing his arms across his bed, staring up at the white ceiling. The older internally curses Hansol for being able to read him so well, it’s just not fair.

 

The longer Jisoo stares at the ceiling the more he drops further down into his mess of thoughts. If anyone could see into his brain right now they would find a way out immediately after seeing the clutter. Potentially if you could see thoughts inside one’s brain, you would see a number of ‘Jeonghan’s <3’ floating around, then a number of images of him, pinned to the walls of his head as if they’re quite literally engraved into his head. You might also see a few of the names and images fading away, symbolising Jisoo trying to rationalise with his insane thoughts of Jeonghan loving him. In a small corner you would see a disappointed Hansol with his arms crossed over his chest, acting as a guardian angel to Jisoo, but Jisoo keeps that in the back of his mind.

 

_RINGGGG… RINGGGG… RINGGGG_

 

Jisoo allows another loud groan to escape his lips, for the second time that morning alone.

“You know it’s really easy to lie over text, hyung. You didn’t have to make it so painfully obvious.” Hansol speaks once Jisoo answers his phone.

 

Being too lazy to physically hold his phone to his ear, Jisoo puts Hansol on speaker and tosses the phone onto the other side of the bed, still in hearing view of Hansol. “You would’ve figured it out either way, wouldn’t you?”

 

“I guess you’re right.” Hansol hums on the other line. “You’re still dumb, hyung. Your problems would be solved if you just talked to himmmm,” The younger sing-songs.

 

Jisoo may or may not have groaned for the third time between that moment and when he woke up not even 10 minutes prior. His parents would kill him for that, but Jisoo would probably prefer that over talking to Jeonghan.

 

“Stop groaning! You always claim you’re so above wallowing in self pity but here you are! You’ve wanted him since forever, Jisoo hyung! This is the chance you have been waiting for, why don’t you just take it?” The blonde tries to reason with him over the phone.

 

The older takes a few moments to respond and then sighs. “I’m scared…”

 

“You don’t have anything to be scared of, hyung! If he really does like you then that works well! If not play it off like you heard a rumor and move on! Seungcheol seems like your type.”

 

Jisoo scoffs, pushing himself to sit up at the last statement. “Oh okay, Seungcheol is _not_ my type-”

 

“What’s wrong with Seungcheol?”

 

“ _Not_ the point! I’d still have to deal with getting over him, Sol! He comes to my work every friday! That’s a recipe for disaster.” Jisoo pushes back, trying to find every excuse in the book, silently knowing that Hansol is right.

 

“Jisoo hyung! You have a fall back plan- you can even say I took your phone! Just _please_ do it! I can’t stand you being all mopey!” Hansol begs and all Jisoo can envision is him on his knees, hands held together tightly and begging to God Himself.

 

Jisoo almost made it 4 groans that morning yet he suppresses the sound and instead takes a deep breath.

 

“Let me take some time. It’s too early in the morning to do it and I wouldn’t want to dwell on his response all day. I’m gonna go take a walk or something. I’ll keep you updated, Sol.” The older says, voice lowering.

 

“If you don’t do it I’m going to come to your work tomorrow and beat you up, hyung.”

 

“ _Please!_ You don’t know what time I work.”

 

“Bold of you to assume that I don’t take a picture of your schedule every time I’m there, hyung. I need to know when I can bother you.”

 

Jisoo laughs and says goodbye to Hansol before hanging up the phone.

 

Maybe he’ll message Jeonghan. He tries to reason with himself that it’s the best option, but that reasoning is shut down when he gets called down for breakfast. Jisoo instead braces himself for the scolding he’s going to get for groaning too loud.

 

\--

 

The park is a really good place to calm down Jisoo establishes to himself at 3:15 PM. He walks down the paths for around ten minutes, his hands in his pockets and his eyes watching the green pine and oak trees or the robins flying around them. It’s calming to focus on wildlife, he thinks. The birds probably have it really easy, they find a bird of the opposite gender (he’s assuming, he doesn’t know if birds can be gay) and do some sort of mating call (jisoo doesn’t actually know if birds even have mating calls) and then BAM they’re mating and the two birds go on to have a successful relationship and family life.

 

Birds have it easier, Jisoo thinks to himself, but then remembers that humans don’t live in fear of being eaten by other animals so he retracts that last thought.

 

Once thing that Jisoo becomes sure of during his walk is that he would much rather think about birds than Yoon Jeonghan. Except for when the birds remind him of Jeonghan.

 

Robins are pretty and red, just like Jeonghan’s auburn hair. The robins soar around the tops of the trees so elegantly, just as Jeonghan walks with long legs and an elegant stride.

 

And _God damn it!_ Why can’t Jisoo get his mind off of Jeonghan for more than 5 minutes at a time?

 

Jisoo finds himself at a playground and gravitates towards the swings. He pushes himself up and behinds to swing. He finds the motion of the swing calming as it’s one of the few things Jisoo can’t connect to Jeonghan.

 

The thing is, Jisoo knows what he _should_ do. He knows that listening to Hansol would probably make his life a little easier, but then again he has enough stubborness in him to not give the younger the satisfaction of being right. Jisoo also knows that he shouldn’t be stubborn and he should text Jeonghan so he finally has closure, but then again he has enough fear in him to keep him from doing that.

 

In Jisoo’s defense, he probably wouldn’t be so apprehensive towards messaging a crush, it’s just the circumstances of the crush. If Jeonghan wasn’t his friend since seventh grade, if they hadn’t hung out every day of seventh and eighth grade, if they hadn’t had a falling out, then Jisoo would take the opportunity! Except all of those things happened and Jisoo is overwhelmed.

 

Jisoo doesn’t want to ruin what he still has left of Jeonghan. He knows he shouldn’t be ruining it with a crush, but he fears he’s ruining it more by being so hopeful.

 

Is losing Jeonghan completely worth having closure?

 

The boy then groans for the fifth time that day. He notices the robins fly to a further tree once he does that. Hopefully that won’t be Jeonghan if Jisoo messages him.

 

Jisoo presses his feet to the ground and skids to a stop. He’s done enough thinking for the day.

 

\--

 

Jisoo goes about 8 hours without dwelling on his feelings for Jeonghan.

 

It’s 11 PM when Jisoo officially comes to the conclusion that he’s a coward and can’t ruin his relationship with Jeonghan like that, not that there is much of a relationship left. He’s selfish, he wants to keep the small amount of love- even if it’s platonic- between them. Though he tries to claim it’s because seeing him at work again after having Jeonghan tell him it’s a joke scared the _hell_ out of him.

 

He nods to himself as reassurance that this is his final decision and drifts off to sleep.

 

\--

 

Jisoo works the following Sunday morning at 9:00 AM and surprisingly has not let out a single groan.

 

Jisoo should’ve come into work looking refreshed and better than ever considering he didn’t stay up till the early hours of the morning thinking, but Jisoo could not have looked worse. He didn’t necessarily stay up thinking, but he had constant nightmares about Jeonghan laughing at him or calling Jisoo and joke which led to Jisoo waking up a few times more than planned.

 

The bags under his eyes are more prominent than usual, his shirt isn’t properly tucked into his pants, and his smile is nowhere to be seen.

 

“Jesus, Jisoo. Rough sleep last night?” Jisoo’s coworker, Mingyu, asks.

 

“Rough? You could call it that.” He lets out a dry laugh and runs his fingers through his hair.

 

Mingyu pat’s his shoulder and gives him a sympathetic smile. “You’re on cash today, all you gotta do is stand, collect money, and smile _a little_. You’ll be okay, dude. Just make sure to look a little presentable, yeah?”

 

Jisoo nods and steps behind the counter to punch in and get to work.

 

\--

 

It’s around 10:45 AM when Seungcheol, Seokmin, Seungkwan, and _Jeonghan_ walk into the restaurant.

 

The dinging sound of the door immediately gets his attention, not that he was expecting anybody to come in, but because Jisoo is attentive and wants to greet customers exactly how he would like to be greeted. The smile that usually graces Jisoo’s face when a customer comes drops the moment he makes eye contact with Jeonghan. Jeonghan gives him a small smile when he makes eye contact with Jisoo before the group is seated by a worker.

 

Jisoo is grateful that Sunday mornings are busy as it allows him to forget about his cowardly Jeonghan feelings and instead pay attention to counting bills and printing receipts. He spends his time doing just that until 11:30 hits and a customer catches his attention with a cough. The boy looks up with a smile and unexpectedly chokes up a cough at the sight he sees in front of him.

 

Jeonghan is in front of him, a sly smirk playing on his perfectly pink lips. He looks Jisoo up and down, not being very discreet about it. Jisoo locks his eyes on Jeonghan’s, just simply admiring rather than waiting for Jeonghan to even speak.

 

“I think someone forgot my bill.”

 

Those were not the words Jisoo thought he would hear, but they’re certainly the words he should have expected considering how unlikely it would be for Jeonghan to say something such as ‘Hey, Jisoo. I really like you.’ So Jisoo nods quickly in response.

 

“I’m so sorry! Let me print that.” Jisoo says quickly, his mind deciding to keep conversation minimal. His fingers twitch against the black receipt machine while he waits for the bill to print itself out. As he’s twitching he repeats a mantra in his head that goes like this: ‘Don’t get your hopes up, don’t get your hopes up, don’t get your hopes up.’

 

The bill prints after about 5 repeats and Jeonghan thanks Jisoo once it does. Jeonghan then turns on his heel to walk back to his table. A sigh of relief leaves Jisoo once Jeonghan’s back is turned to him.

 

“Wait! Jisoo, I have a question.” Jeonghan turns back around just as quickly as Jisoo sucked in the breath.

 

“Y-Yeah what is it?” Jisoo’s stutter gave away what Jisoo thought was a composed look.

 

“You’re usually super friendly… This may not be my place to speak but are you alright? I mean we used to be best friends and all- So I don’t mean to be stepping any boundaries but I was sort of worried.” Jeonghan steps back up close to the counter.

 

Jisoo’s chest suddenly contracts and he feels as though he can’t breathe. With Jeonghan’s soft gaze on him and his calm stature, Jisoo feels all sorts of butterflies throughout his stomach and they do _not_ want him to feel comfortable.

 

After what feels like minutes upon end is really only moments and Jisoo lets out a deep breath and he smiles apologetically at Jeonghan.

 

“No! I’m so sorry! I’ve just been a mess this morning!” Jisoo’s demeanor automatically changes after the deep breath, he stands up straight and smiles wide. “I’m really sorry that I forgot your bill and that I seem off- that’s so wrong of me as a worker here! I’ll be better next time you’re here, I promise!”

 

Jeonghan laughs in response, to which Jisoo raises a questioning eyebrow at.

 

“Why are you laughing?”

 

“You’re cute.”

 

“I- What? Is this some sort of sick joke?” Jisoo steps back from the cash register and squints his eyes at the other.

 

“Why would it be a joke, Jisoo? You’re cute when you’re all stressed. It’s not a big deal, I’m just teasing you.” Jeonghan takes a step closer and tries to reassure Jisoo.

 

Jisoo takes another deep breath- as if it could even ground him in a moment like this. “I- okay? Thank you… I’m sorry for overreacting- and questioning you.”

 

“Jisoo! Stop it!” Jeonghan chuckles and runs a hand through his hair. “Don’t apologise, you’ve done nothing wrong!”

 

The worker just shakes his head and holds his hand up to stop Jeonghan from talking. “Just accept my apology, Jeonghan! I’m _overreacting._ ”

 

“Okay, sweetheart. I’ll accept it over coffee after your shift is over?”

 

Jisoo sputters at the sudden nickname and the incredible drawl of Jeonghan’s voice as he says it.

 

“C-Coffee? Okay, yeah, perfect.” He nods quickly.

 

“Perfect. See you in a few hours, Jisoo.”

 

“Yeah! S-See you!”

 

Jisoo watches Jeonghan cooly walk back to his seat with his friends, all 3 of which are cheering and patting his back which only causes Jisoo to blush even more.

 

“Jisoo? What the hell was that?” The cashier hears Mingyu laugh from behind him.

 

“If I’m being honest, Mingyu, I’m not even sure.” Jisoo sighs deeply, smile wide on his lips.

 

“Well I’m glad to see you’re back to your regular happy self.”

 

“Yeah, me too.”

 

\--

 

Jisoo ends work at 3:00 PM and steps out from under the counter and straight to a booth where Jeonghan is waiting with a huge smile.

 

“Glad you could make it.” Jeonghan says, eyes twinkling as he stares at the worker in front of him.

 

“Thanks for the invitation.”

 

The two laugh quietly and Jeonghan reaches out across the table to hold onto Jisoo’s trembling hand.

 

Jisoo smiles at Jeonghan, teeth and all, and gently squeezed Jeonghan’s hand.

 

Maybe the stress was worth it.

  


**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if this was a complete mess, but if you made it to the end then I guess that means something! Thank you for reading! Please comment your thoughts and kudos if you'd like! <33


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